Friday, July 29, 2011

This blog used the word "snubbed" to describe Sheila Reid's absence from the list of three Bowerman Award finalists. Someone closer to the award has gone a bit further. Jesse Squire, a voter for the Bowerman Award and the man behind The Track & Field Superfan website (linkedhere), thinks that Villanova's Sheila Reid should have been among the three finalists for the award -- going so far as to say that Reid "got robbed" of a spot among the finalists. Here's the story from Squire that was posted on Wednesday.

The Bowerman, and thoughts on awardsJuly 27, 2011

A few weeks ago the ESPYs took place. Like all awards shows, they exist primarily as annual self-promoting PR stunts, in this case for ESPN itself.

Track and field was at least nominally included. Tyson Gay won “Best Track and Field Athlete”. Hurdler Lolo Jones made a splash on the red carpet, with her usual “just little old me, can’t get a date” attitude that doesn’t in any way match her appearance.

Why was Tyson Gay the “Best Track and Field Athlete”? Oh, who knows. It’s not like they have criteria for these awards. I’m reminded of the old All-Madden Team selection shows, when Madden responded to a question about criteria for inclusion. He said “We don’t use big words like criteria…or mayonnaise. We’ve just got guys. Big guys running into each other.”

I mention this because we all understand that winning an ESPY doesn’t mean much of anything besides getting your mug on TV for a bit. You never hear the next day about this person or that person getting robbed of an award they truly deserved. It’s understood that it’s either all in good fun, or the usual ESPN hot air, or a bit of both.

You do hear about people who get robbed of other awards, be it the Heisman or the Oscars, because we actually care who wins. Arguing and controversy, by themselves, aren’t necessarily bad. Even important awards still exist primarily as PR machines, and anything that gets them in the press is a good thing. Usually.

I bring this up because about the time the ESPYs took place, the finalists were announced for the Bowerman Award, given annually to the outstanding male and female college track and/or field athletes of the year. The award was created three years ago for a few reasons. One was to recognize these outstanding young men and women, but another was to drum up some much-needed PR for college track.

What I have to say on the subject isn’t merely my usual pontificating; I’m now on the voting panel that decides who wins these things. The panel is made up of “national and regional media personnel, track & field statisticians, NCAA collegiate administrators, Presidents of affiliated organizations, and self-appointed loudmouths with blogs”. Well, I made that last part up. Apparently I fall under “media personnel”. The fans also collectively get a vote.

I got my ballot yesterday. Before I can even decide who to pick, I have to think about the criteria.

All the Advisory Board says is that it “is awarded each year to the top male collegiate athlete and to the top female collegiate athlete in the sport of NCAA track & field”. The only other specification is that you only consider accomplishments made during the collegiate season (i.e., at or before the NCAA Championships on June 8-11).

Obviously this gives me a lot of leeway to decide what makes someone the top athlete.

I’ve actually put a lot of thought into what that is, long before I was ever asked to be part of the voting panel. Our local high school conference, the Toledo City League, has long given out an outstanding athlete award at its championship meet, and I’ve often disagreed with the choice. (Although not lately; it used to be up to a coaches’ vote, but was handed over to “the press” a few years ago, which boils down to The Toledo Blade‘s Steve Junga coming over to me and asking who should get it.)

Too often, an “athlete of the meet” award is given out to whoever wins the most events. Don’t get me wrong, I think winning is important. But it basically rules out anyone who is a single-event specialist. I realized this when a discus specialist on our team won the league’s title in her first meet back after going through chemotherapy for lupus, and beating an all-state thrower to do it, and basically getting no MVP vote from any coach other than ours. It was the most emotional victory I’ve ever been a part of. Obviously, some wins mean more than others, and that should be taken into consideration.

The other question that often gets asked is “who broke a record?” Hey, we know that some records are tougher than others, and record-breaking should be taken with a grain of salt, especially since sometimes the weather cooperates and sometimes it doesn’t.

The Bowerman, though, is not an “athlete of the meet” award, it’s for the season as a whole. So as the college season wore on, I decided that my vote was going to go to the athlete who most dominated their competition. Going undefeated wasn’t a necessity, but I wanted someone who won a lot and won when it was most important. When times and heights and distances come into the equation, I want someone who sticks out as being one of the better athletes in their event’s history.

On the men’s side it turned out to be a no-brainer decision. Ngoni Makusha won an NCAA indoor title, three NCAA outdoor titles, every event he entered in the ACC indoor and outdoor championships, broke the collegiate record in the 100 meters, and went to #6 on the all-time collegiate list in the long jump. He joined Carl Lewis, Jesse Owens, and DeHart Hubbard as the only men to ever win the 100/long jump double, and those are three of the six or seven greatest long jumpers of all time.

On the women’s side, it’s a bit tougher of a choice. And, from my perspective, the advisory board made the wrong decision for one of the finalists.

Tina Šutej did not win her event at the NCAA outdoor championships, the single most important competition of the year. It was her only loss of 2011, and she set a lot of records, but it’s the nature of track and field to be judged by the championship meets. No Olympic silver medalist would be on the short list for Track and Field News‘ Athlete of the Year award, and likewise I think the Bowerman finalists must all must be NCAA outdoor champions.

I’ll tell you who did win a lot: Villanova’s Sheila Reid. She won the NCAA Cross Country Championships last fall. She basically won the distance medley at the NCAA Indoor Championships by herself. She narrowly lost the 3000 at the NCAA Indoors, then won the 1500/5000 double at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Why was she not nominated? I’m guessing, despite having only one loss on her record, it’s because her times weren’t particularly impressive. Which is the basic problem with college track. We care more about marks than about winning. Winning is what a sports fan cares about, numbers are what an accountant cares about. I think Reid’s no records and four national championships (in five tries) beats Šutej’s two collegiate records and one championship in (two tries).

Now, this doesn’t mean I was going to vote for Reid if she had been nominated. I think there was someone more impressive.

Jessica Beard swept the indoor and outdoor titles in her event and lost just once all year, which about equals Reid for winning. Her anchor of the NCAA Outdoor Championships 4×400 relay, where she took her team from third to first, was the most impressive single performance of the entire collegiate season. She split a 49.13 which, all things considered, is the greatest 400 ever run by a woman in collegiate competition. And she didn’t have to go that hard; all she had to do to seal a team victory for Texas A&M was hold onto second place and beat Oregon, but she ran for greatness.

Anyway, you’ll get to do fan voting online in the fall, and the award will be handed out at the annual coaches’ convention in December. There will be a red carpet of sorts, as the ceremony will be live at Flotrack.com. And remember to tell ‘em that Sheila Reid got robbed.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Her unflappable nature has landed Litvak an opportunity to pole vault for Villanova University women's track team next year.

"I'm so excited, it's a dream come true for me," Litvak said. "When I was recruited by them, I couldn't believe it because they have a great program."

Before she made contact with Villanova, Litvak made her mark scoring points for Weston, serving as captain this past year. After she initially expressed interest to the Lady Wildcats, they conveyed that the feeling was mutual and enticed her to attend the Big East school.

Other colleges that Litvak considered were UMass-Amherst, the University of Michigan and Lafayette College. In the end, Villanova won out. Meeting her perspective Lady Wildcat teammates, who made her feel like family, also swayed her to choose Villanova.

"I like the size of Villanova the most," Litvak said. "Michigan and UMass are very large while Villanova has a more intimate atmosphere. Lafayette was good but I like the atmosphere of Villanova more because it's in the city."

From the moment she joined the Lady Trojans, Litvak was one of the top scorers in the pole vault and was their ace performer in it this year. Her career personal best was 11-0. She earned All-State freshman year and kept on improving.

"Hard work and obviously, a great coaching staff," said Litvak on the key to her success. "[Weston Head Coach Matt] Medve, [pole vaulting Coach Tim] Drummond and [sprinting coach and outdoor track head boys] Coach [Lloyd] Weinstein helped me a lot. They were more than coaches and I felt I could confide in them. Also, the team became like best friends."

Looking at the 5-2 Litvak, few would guess that the pole vault is her specialty. According to Drummond, she's the smallest competitor in the event at most meets. In the end, she overcomes her lack of height through her pluckiness.

"Kiki works hard to get to where she is," Drummond said. "With the pole vault being what it is, her height is a disadvantage and she has a lot to overcome."

Being a former gymnast was instrumental in Litvak's success in the pole vault. For 10 years, starting at age 4, gymnastics was her life. She competed for Arena Gymnastics in Stamford and won many medals for her stellar performance on the mat.

Competing for Arena became daunting for Litvak in the latter stages of her tenure there and she ended up retiring from gymnastics. Giving up the sport that was her identity back then wasn't easy.

"When it ended, I felt my whole world ended, but I wouldn't be where I am today [if I stayed in gymnastics] and I'm grateful to everyone who supported me in track," Litvak recalled. "They got me to love track and made it special for me. At the time [I left gymnastics], I was devastated, but it turned out to be the best decision for me."

Medve works as a middle school gym teacher when he doesn't coach and immediately recognized Litvak's talent in the pole vault when she was in eighth grade. He told her back then she'd be competing in it.

"I had a lot of success on the track and I love it, so I gave it a try," Litvak recalled. "I like how the pole vault is independent and it takes speed, coordination, body awareness and the combination has a lot to do with gymnastics. I miss gymnastics but it's a nice transition for me. It's my passion and I love it."

One thing Litvak relishes about the pole vault is her ability to challenge herself in it. She always strives to improve and sets goals based on previous performances.

"A lot of it is focus, hard work and determination," Litvak said. "There's no limit to how far I can go, which I find exciting. You have to be in the right place and you have to be confident and aggressive. You have to be committed to the jump because if you're tentative, it will go wrong."

Sometimes, a jump goes wrong in the pole vault and Litvak is no exception. Her ability to shake it off allows her to rebound from these vaults.

"If it's not a clean jump, you forget about it and start over," Litvak said. "Everything is a new beginning for me and I forget what happened before."

In addition to track, Litvak played field hockey for the Lady Trojans in the fall. She was Second Team All-SWC sophomore year but her ankle injury cut short her senior season.

Nevertheless, her left ankle was fully recovered in time for track. Weston was able to maintain its dominance in the pole vault with Litvak leading the charge.

Being a captain was a natural fit for Litvak, who mostly led by example through her work ethic. She also guided her teammates verbally.

Bobby Curtis has intimated over the past several months that he is interested in working toward a fall marathon. Toward that end, perhaps, rumor has it that Curtis will compete in the Philadelphia Half Marathon on September 18th. Curtis arrived at Villanova in 2003 as one of the country's most accomplished high school milers. He found his most success on the track at Villanova at 5000 meters, winning the NCAA title at that distance in 2008. Over the past two years, Curtis has been a top-five ranked American at both 5000 and 10,000 meters (he is the fastest American so far this year at the latter distance). It now looks like he'll make his professional half-marathon debut close to his adopted home in Philadelphia. Curtis has always been a rhythm runner who performs better on the track, so it will be interesting to see if he can translate his top 10,000 track times (he's the 5th fastest native-born American ever at that distance at 27:24.67) into equally top-flight times on the roads.

Adrian Blincoe's recent 13:18.27 "A" standard in Barcelona landed him on the New Zealand team for the upcoming IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea. It will be the 15th time that Blincoe has represented New Zealand on its national team. Here's the complete list:

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Here's a blog post from Hugo Beamish (via the Runners Tribe folks in Australia). In it, he lets everyone know that despite graduating from Villanova this spring, he'll be back for the indoor and outdoor seasons in 2012 (he's used up all his cross country eligibility). Also, he's getting ready for the World University Games in China next month, where he'll run the 5000 meters.

Been a bit of a delay in actually producing this blog after accepting a few weeks ago. Currently taking summer classes which have reluctantly taken priority, although I am writing this during an urban hydrology and stormwater management lecture which is a little duller than usual.

Despite graduating in May from Villanova and the possibility of no more classes, the thought of a real job meant more school was by far the better option. Luckily I have an indoor and outdoor season left for a 5th year that I am going to do at Villanova. No cross country, which while devastating means I can go to World Uni Games mid August after qualifying in the 5k indoors this year (by running 13:51).

It’s a bit odd not to be doing the usual slow build up, mileage only for cross country over the summer here but this outdoors was a bit average so another chance to run on the track is sweet. After only racing three times outdoors I took a week or so of easy running before beginning a few weeks of tempos and threshold.

I have few more weeks of this before one session a week becomes a track workout. That will get me through to the 7th of August when I head to Hong Kong before actually going to Shenzhen. No idea what to expect but pretty excited for the race/trip. Excited to be doing some travelling with few others. Race is a heat and final. As for the conditions, training here is pretty perfect as it is consistently above 30 and miserably humid. Luckily there is a summer school crew here plus the reliable Dan Lewis, although he’s tryna bail from mile repeats tomorrow morning, so there’s a few people to run and hang with.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Incoming freshman Rob Denault from Aurora, Ontario, Canada came 6th today in the 1500 at the Pan Am Juniors. As the times below reflect, the race turned into a slow sit-and-kick affair and both Denault and his Canadian teammate finished some 10 seconds off their PRs.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Adrian Blincoe's comeback from a series of injuries took another giant stride tonight in Barcelona, Spain as the former Villanova All-American and current assistant coach ran 13:18.27 and attained the qualifying "A" standard (13:20.00) for the 2011 World Championships and 2012 Olympic Games. He finished 10th in the race and was the first non-African finisher. His time sets a new season's best, coming in under the 13:24.82 he ran a week ago in Heusden, The Netherlands. Blincoe is the New Zealand national record holder at 5000 meters (13:10.19).

Thursday, July 21, 2011

After running a nice 13:24.82 in a steady rain in The Netherlands last weekend, Adrian Blincoe is hoping for better weather Friday evening in Barcelona. He'll be contesting the 5000 meters at the Ciutat de Barcelona at the city's Olympic stadium.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Jen Rhines ran her fourth 5000 meter race of the outdoor season tonight in Lignano, Italy and posted her second fastest time of the campaign. Jen finished second to fellow American Liz Maloy, coming home in 15:17.83. As the results below show, the runners got very well strung out as the race developed. Maloy and Rhines ran away from the rest of the competitors and were the only two with a chance to win the race. Amy Hastings was in "no man's land" on an island by herself in third.

Amy Hastings and Angela Bizzarri, who finished second and third, respectively, at the USA Nationals 5000, are in Europe chasing the World Championships "A" standard (15:14.00)-- both have the "B" standard (15:25.00) and Bizzarri will be unable to compete at Worlds unless either she or Hastings achieves the "A" standard. Both Hastings and Bizzarri were off form tonight, finishing well back and far removed from the 15:14.00 "A" standard. Jen Rhines, who finished fourth in the 5000 at the USA meet, also has the "B" standard, with her 15:14.88 in Hengelo being her season's best. Only one "B" standard athlete per country may compete in each event at Worlds. If Hastings gets the "A" standard by August 8th, then the USA team will be the top 3 finishers at the USA meet last month: Molly Huddle, Amy Hastings, and Angela Bizzarri. If neither Hastings nor Bizzarri nor Rhines get the "A", then only Huddle and Hastings will compete at Worlds in the 5000. Rhines has the "A" standard in the 10,000 and made Team USA for Worlds at that distance. If Jen were to run under 15:14 in the next two weeks, and assuming that Bizzarri fails to do so, Jen might be eligible to compete at Worlds in the 5000 as well.

Later today Jen Rhines will get back in action in Lignano, Italy by competing in the 5000 meters at the 19th Annual Meeting Sports Solidarieta. Jen is already qualified in the 10,000 for Team USA at the IAAF World Championships later this summer (the USA 10,000 trio is shown above). She also finished 4th at the USATF championships over 5000 meters. Here's the start list, with each runner's season best time listed.

Note as well that Marina Muncan is on the list, most probably to serve as a rabbit for the field.

Monday, July 18, 2011

John Buckley, third on the all-time Villanova long jump list at 25' 6.5", has been inducted into the Delaware Country chapter of the Pennsylvania Hall of Fame. Buckley won the IC4A long jump championship three consecutive years: in 1958 (25' 6.5"), 1959 (25' 0.75"), and 1960 (23' 9.75). Buckley (pictured above, second row, far right) finished 4th at the NCAA championships in 1959, jumping 24' 5".

Buckley, a St. James High athlete, competed on track teams coached by the legendary Jumbo Elliott at Villanova University.

“He was tough, but he was a great leader,” Buckley said. “My event (long jump) was the first one in the meet, so he let me know he expected me to get us a win in that first event whenever we competed.”

“The nicest thing about being honored like this is that so many family members I haven’t seen in many years came home,” he said. “I’ve really been enjoying our family reunion.”

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Marina Muncan, fresh off her fast (2:03.48) 800 meters in Sardinia on Wednesday, will contest the 1500 at the Citti di Padova meeting on Sunday. Padova is about 20 miles west of Venice in northeastern Italy. Here's the start list, which contains many names familiar to the North American circuit.

Nicely done for Adrian Blincoe this evening at the KBC Night of Athletics in Heusden, The Netherlands. In a deep and talented field, in rather poor weather that slowed the pace, and testing an injured knee that forced him to his back in the midst of last weekend's Birmingham 5000, Blincoe ran a very solid 13:24.82, coming home in the first chase pack. His time already puts him ahead of last year's SB of 13:26.10 set in Melbourne.

By all accounts, the knee injury from Birmingham is not too serious. The race video will be posted when it becomes available.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Marina Muncan ran her second fastest 800 meter race ever yesterday in Italy. Her PR over 800 meters (set in July 2009) is 2:02.86 and Muncan ran a very brisk 2:03.48 at the Paolo Delogu Memorial meet on Sardinia in Dorgali, Italy. A 10-time All-American while at Villanova, Muncan is the Serbian national record holder at 1500 meters (4:08.06) and the mile (4:31.84).

The Bowerman Award is presented to the most outstanding track or field athlete, based on performance during the athlete's indoor and outdoor season. Despite winning three NCAA titles (1500 and 5000 outdoors, and anchoring the DMR indoors) and finishing second in a fourth NCAA final (3000 meters indoors, where she trailed the winner by less than 1/5th of a second), Villanova's Sheila Reid was left off the list of three finalists. Since the USTFCCCA statement below cites the finalists' post-NCAA efforts at the USATF championships (which are not officially part of the NCAA-based Bowerman criteria), it is worth noting that Reid herself also enjoyed post-NCAA "professional" success: in June she returned to her native Canada and won the national title in the 1500, defeating two World Championship "A" standard PR runners. Counting her NCAA Cross Country individual title in November, over a six-month period, Reid won three NCAA individual titles, one national (Canadian) individual title, two NCAA team/relay titles, and an NCAA runner-up medal. Not good enough, however, to become a Bowerman finalist. Such is the quality of the achievements of these three women.

Here is the press release from the USTFCCCA. For more details, click the title of this post to go to the USTFCCCA website.:

Women's Finalists for The Bowerman are Beard, Duncan, Sutej

July 14, 2011

NEW ORLEANS – The Bowerman Advisory Board in conjunction with the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced on Thursday the three women’s finalists for the highest honor given to collegiate track & field student-athletes – The Bowerman. Representing the best in collegiate track & field during the 2011 seasons, the finalists are Texas A&M senior Jessica Beard, LSU sophomore Kimberlyn Duncan, and Arkansas junior Tina Sutej.

Finalists were chosen by the ten-person Bowerman Advisory Board based on performances recorded during the indoor and outdoor 2011 track & field seasons. Only performances through the conclusion of the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships are used in consideration.

The award, in its third year of existence, will be presented in a ceremony at the USTFCCCA Convention on December 14 at the JW Marriott Hill Country, San Antonio, Texas. John Anderson, ESPN SportsCenter anchor and co-host of ABC’s Wipeout, will host the evening’s festivities for the second-straight year. The men’s finalists are Jeshua Anderson (Washington State), Ngoni Makusha (Florida State), and Christian Taylor (Florida).

Women’s Finalists for The Bowerman are Beard, Duncan, Sutej

July 14, 2011

NEW ORLEANS – The Bowerman Advisory Board in conjunction with the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced on Thursday the three women’s finalists for the highest honor given to collegiate track & field student-athletes – The Bowerman. Representing the best in collegiate track & field during the 2011 seasons, the finalists are Texas A&M senior Jessica Beard, LSU sophomore Kimberlyn Duncan, and Arkansas junior Tina Sutej.

Finalists were chosen by the ten-person Bowerman Advisory Board based on performances recorded during the indoor and outdoor 2011 track & field seasons. Only performances through the conclusion of the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships are used in consideration.

The award, in its third year of existence, will be presented in a ceremony at the USTFCCCA Convention on December 14 at the JW Marriott Hill Country, San Antonio, Texas. John Anderson, ESPN SportsCenter anchor and co-host of ABC’s Wipeout, will host the evening’s festivities for the second-straight year. The men’s finalists are Jeshua Anderson (Washington State), Ngoni Makusha (Florida State), and Christian Taylor (Florida)

THE BOWERMAN FINALISTS, 2011 WOMEN

Jessica Beard, Texas A&MSenior, Sprints, Euclid, Ohio (Euclid HS)

Beard became the just the third female in NCAA Division I history, and first since 1999, to win both 400 national titles in the same year and run on both winning 4×400 relays at the NCAA Indoor and NCAA Outdoor Championships. Beard, a four-time Big 12 indoor 400-meter champ, recorded the world’s fastest time over the 400-meter distance indoors with a 50.79 clocking to win the national crown. Outdoors, Beard clocked 51.10 for the NCAA win and split 49.13 for the Aggies as anchor of the NCAA-winning 4×400 relay.

At the USATF Championships (not considered part of the collegiate season), Beard placed fourth in the 400 meters, running a season’s best 51.06 in the national final.

Beard joins Porscha Lucas (2009) as Aggies that have been named Bowerman finalists. The Big 12 has been represented by at least one women’s finalist in each of the three years of the award.

Duncan swept the NCAA’s 200-meter titles in 2011 and, in both seasons, notched world-leading times. Duncan became the sixth woman in NCAA Division I history and the first since Auburn’s Kerron Stewart in 2007 to sweep 200-meter titles in the same season. Indoors, Duncan won the SEC title in 22.78 for the world’s best time of the season. Outdoors, Duncan was undefeated in the 200 meters and clocked a low-altitude all-time collegiate best (and the third-best overall) with a 22.24 run. Duncan was also the NCAA’s 100-meter runner-up and anchored the Lady Tigers to an NCAA title in the 4×100 (42.64).

At the USATF Championships (not considered part of the collegiate season), Duncan placed fifth in the 200 meters, clocking a 22.35 in the event’s final.

Duncan is the first from LSU to be named a Bowerman finalist. Duncan, Sutej, and men’s finalist Christian Taylor compose the first class of SEC athletes to be a finalist for The Bowerman.

Sutej set new collegiate records with the pole vault both indoors and outdoors in 2011. Indoors, Sutej would reach a best of 14-10¾ (4.54m) to set the new all-time collegiate best in winning the SEC crown and would go on to win the NCAA title. Outdoors, Sutej again won the SEC league title with a collegiate-record vault – a clearance of 15-1½ (4.61m). Overall, Sutej collected 13-straight meet victories before finishing runner-up at the NCAA outdoor meet where she tied the championship-meet record with Oregon’s Melissa Gergel who took the crown on virtue of misses.

Sutej is the first Arkansas athlete to be a finalist for The Bowerman.

Adrian Blincoe DNF'd at the Aviva Birmingham 5000 meters after he injured his knee when he was clipped from behind at the two-mile mark in the race. Evidently the knee injury is not serious, as Blincoe appears on the 1500 meter start list at Friday's meet in Bottrop, Germany. Let's see if Adrian actually toes the line on this one or if he knee needs more time to mend itself.

BOTTROP (GER): Bottrop Gala will have its fifth edition this Friday. Moroccan olympic medalist Hasna Benhassi against her team-mate Halima Hachlaf at the 800 m will be one of the highlights of the event. Tatooed German Janin Lindenberg will test her shape in the 200 m against US sub 23 runners Tiffayn Townsend and Charonda Williams. In men 100 m strong field with US Rae Edwards, Zambian record holder and NCAA standout Gerald Phiri, world medalist from 200 m Alonso Edward of Panama and Briton Marlon Devonish. Moroccan Abdelaati Iguider leads strong 1500 start list with Briton Andy Baddeley and Adrian Blincoe of New Zealand. US trio Ty Akins, Jeff Porter and Dominic Berger are to be considered favorites for 110 m hurdles. South African world junior champion Luvo Manyonga is the long jump headliner with Mohamed Al-Kuwailidi of Saudi Arabia, Lithuanian record holder Povilas Mykolaitis and Czech olympic finalist Roman Novotny. US Nicole Denby is the top name at 100 m hurdles. World junior record holder Birtukan Adamu is the top name of strong women steeple and US Briana Glenn is the one to watch in women long jump. US Daegu bound duo Kara Patterson and Rachel Yurkovich along with home Katharina Molitor are javelin favorites.

UPDATE: BLINCOE SKIPPED THE BOTTROP 1500 ON FRIDAY TO RUN THE 5000 AT HEUSDEN'S KBC NIGHT OF ATHLETICS ON SATURDAY (WHERE HE RAN A SOLID 13:24 TO FINISH 7TH).

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Rob Denault captured the men’s 1,500 metres title in a tight finish at the Canadian junior track and field championships held this past weekend in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In a very slow tactical race that saw the top two finishers run 20 seconds off their PRs, Villanova signee Rob Denault, who was in 4th at the bell and who was boxed in on the rail until about 80 meters from the line, swung wide and passed Ross Proudfoot in the final meters of the race.

The Aurora resident and member of the Newmarket Huskies Track Club crossed the finish line in 4:05.01 seconds to nose out Track North Athletic Club rival Ross Proudfoot (4:05.15) for the title.

The victory enabled Denault, who will attend Villanova University on a scholarship in the fall, to claim a berth in the upcoming Pan American Junior Championships to be held in Miramar, Florida from July 22 to 24.

Celeste Halliday, a former Villanova All-American (both academically and on the track), was part of the Wildcats' national record DMR squad (she ran the 800 leg in 2:04.7 that day) and winner of 3 Penn Relays Championship of America watches, can be proud of the accomplishments of her daughter Sydnee Over. Over is emerging as a top national sprinter after only two years of high school, and will surely be the focus of an intense recruiting battle when it comes time to decide on her college career. Here's a profile from the Hartford Courant.

Windsor's Sydnee Over is Special Sophomore

Stephen Dunn, Hartford Courant

July 08, 2011

SYDNEE OVER, Windsor

CLASS: Sophomore

EVENTS: 400, 800, 4x400 relay

COACH: Ron Wilson

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: When the times were posted she was the fourth fastest time in the country for a high school runner in the 400 twice, once at the Lindy Remigino Invitational (53.97 seconds) and once at the State Open (53.62), but finished second both times to Hillhouse-New Haven's Precious Holmes. … Helped her 4x400 team set a State Open record (3:49.59) and also helped the 4x800 team win a State Open title. … Won the 400 and ran on the winning 4x400 and the 4x800 relays to help Windsor win its second consecutive Class L championship. … Finished fourth in the 400 at the New Balance Outdoor Championships (53.69). … Ran a 2:11.38 in the junior 800 meters at the USATF National Championships but did not qualify for the finals.

OVER SAID: "I think overall, personally, I had a good season. I was proud of the times I ran, even if I couldn't win my State Open medal again. I was proud of our team to come up with another Class L title. We all ran really well this season and competed to the best of our abilities."

WILSON SAID: "I thought she had an outstanding season. If you finished fourth in the nation [with her time of 53.62 in the 400], I don't think you can be disappointed with your season. That's an incredible time."

UP NEXT: Over will take a break from running for a month, but start to focus on cross country at the beginning of August. Would like to try to qualify for the Olympic Trials next year, possibly in the 800.

IN 10 YEARS: "I would love to run professionally."

MISCELLANEOUS: Also runs cross country and plays basketball, which she has played since third grade. … Started running at age 9 and still holds the state Hershey Track Meet record for the 200 meters for 9-10 year olds. …Mother Celeste Halliday-Over was an Olympic alternate in the 800 meters in 1992, a bronze medalist at the Pan Am Games in Cuba and an All-American at Villanova. … Older brother Devin will be playing baseball at UConn. … Enjoys art, especially sculpture.

Tonight at the Alienn Meagher Track Classic in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Nicole Schappert was 2nd in 4:18.70 and Frances Koons third in 4:19.96. Schappert was 1 second off her 1500 PR, while Koons was almost 7 seconds off her 4:13.34 PR. Here are the complete results:

The video above shows the final 3000 of the Birmingham 5000. At about the two-mile mark, Blincoe was clipped from behind and tweaked his knee -- not sure how serious the issue might be, but Blincoe went down on his back on the track, seemingly in real pain. The race video shows perhaps 3 or 4 instances of bumping, shoving, and runners being knocked off stride. Bobby Curtis's, who was a bit detached from the lead group, dropped out at the 10:00 mark of the race, seemingly without incident.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Friday, July 8, 2011

John Coghlan, son of Villanova legend Eamonn Coghlan, narrowly missed joining his father as a sub-4:00 miler tonight in Dublin. He finished 9th in the Morton Mile in 4:00.79. The time is a major new PR for Coghlan and provides more evidence of the significant improvements he's made over the past year. If he accomplishes this feat, the Coghlans would be the first Irish father-son duo to break the 4:00 barrier.

Here's a blurb from the BBC about the race:

Emerging Irish athlete Ciaran O'Lionaird broke the four-minute barrier for the first time as he finished an excellent third in an exciting Morton Mile.

O'Lionaird clocked 3:57.99 after leading at the bell with US athlete Jordan McNamara winning in 3:56.82.

Kildare man Paul Robinson was also under four minutes for the first time as he clocked 3:59.99 to finish seventh while John Coghlan, son of 1983 World 5,000m champion Eamonn Coghlan, was ninth in 4:00.79.

The only three USA father-son sub-4:00 miler duos (with their initial sub-4:00 mile time listed) are:

Jen Rhines was a late addition to the 5000 tonight in Paris. The race went extremely fast, with Ethiopia's Meseret Defar winning in a 2011 world low 14:29.52. USA's Shalane Flanagan came 4th in a fast 14:45.20 (a mere .44 seconds off the American Record held by Molly Huddle). Jen Rhines, who was 3rd in the 10,000 and 4th over 5000 meters at the USA Championships, finished 12th, in 15:30.97 (about 12 seconds slower than her time at the USA Championships two weeks ago). Jen will represent the USA in the 10,000 at the World Championships later this summer.

Two recent Villanova milers are entered in the Aileen Meagher International Track Classic this Sunday in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Nicole Schappert & Frances Koons, both running under former Georgetown coach Frank Gagliano at the New Jersey-New York Track Club, carry into the race the best PRs but face strong competition from several Canadian runners. The race is scheduled for 8:35 pm on Sunday, July 10.

Also at the meet, Canadian Allan Brett, who ran at Villanova during the 2006-2007 campaign before transferring to the University of Guelph, will contest the 1500 meters. He carries a 3:47.63 PR into the meet.

Joining Koons and Schappert on the NJ-NY Track club are former Villanovans Sean Tully and Marina Muncan and eleven other top-level post-collegiate athletes. To visit the team's website, click the title of this post.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Several years ago Eamonn Coghlan's son John was on the recruiting radar of the "normal suspects" in the USA: Villanova, Providence, Iona (all of which schools had Irish track coaches: Marcus O'Sullivan at Villanova, Ray Treacy at Providence, amd Mick Byrne -- now at Wisconsin -- at Iona). He had won the All-Ireland Schools cross country title in 2007, won the Schools and Junior 1500 titles, and was routinely among the top finishers at the Junior level. Coghlan's times as a 1500/5000/XC runner were good enough to generate some interest, but not good enough to garner the kind of offers that would make his decision to stay in Ireland or jump to the States an easy one. In the event, John Coghlan opted to stay home, attend Dublin City University (DCU), and to pursue his running career in his home country. He has done so to good effect: he won the U-23 Irish title at 1500 meters in 2010, was 5th at the Irish Senior Cross Country championships in 2010, and was a member of the Irish U-23 cross country team that recently won Gold at the European cross country championships. John's recent track times for 1500 meters have come down to the 3:46 range (essentially a 4:04 mile), and many are wondering if he can join his father Eamonn as a sub-4:00 miler. Here's a story from today's Herald that speaks to the issue.

Coghlan chases mile holy grail

Herald.ieBy Lindie Naughton

Wednesday, July 06 2011

A number of young Irish athletes will line out in the Morton Mile at Friday's Clonliffe 125 Track and Field Grand Prix (7.0).

For all, the target is a sub-four minute time, still the Holy Grail of middle distance running, although the distance is rarely run in these metric days.

Leading a strong group of middle-distance specialists from the US, Australia and the UK is Jack Bolas, the American with a 3:37.64 1500m time, who was runner-up last year.

Two-time Olympian Alistair Cragg had hoped to lead the Irish entry, but is doubtful after dropping out of a 5000m last week with a sinus infection.

Former European Junior 1500m winner Colin Costello is entered along with Paul Robinson, holder of the Irish junior mile record at 4:00.93, Ciarán O'Lionaird and John Coghlan. If Coghlan (pictured) can break four minutes, he will follow in the footsteps of dad Eamonn, still the second-fastest [by 1/100 of a second, behind NR holder Ray Flynn -- BC] Irishman ever over the distance.

Shaping up to be a thriller is the 3000m, with the entry of 30 led by Irish cross-country champion Joe Sweeney of DSD. Mark Kenneally and Sergiu Ciobanu run for the host club.

After his winter in Florida, Derry sprinter Jason Smyth currently tops the national rankings. In both 100m and 200m, Smyth takes on Ferrybank's Chris Russell.

Using the 400m as a warm-up for the European U23 Championships next week is Brian Gregan, while Ireland's Kelly Proper takes on the American Chelsea Taylor in the women's 100m and long jump.

In an Irish Milers Club 800m race, Tallaght's Anthony Lieghio takes on Mark English of Letterkenny, while running the women's 800m are Lisburn's Ciara Mageean and Siofra Cleirigh Buttner of DSD.

John Travers of Donore will run in the IMC 1500m race, while Ireland's top Paralympians will also be chasing London 2012 qualification.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Bobby Curtis and Adrian Blincoe are on the start list of what looks to be a very fast 5000 meter race in Birmingham, England this Sunday, July 10th. Five entrants have career PR under 13:00, and 6 others are in the 13:00-13:10 range. Odds are that David Krummenacker of the USA, one of the best rabbits in the business, will take the group through a brisk 1500 or 2000 meters. Here is a real chance for a time-trial style European 5000 meters.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Matt Gibney sums up his three-race post NCAA tour (two slows -- Jersey and Victoria -- and a fast -- Vancouver), his upcoming two-week hiatus (featuring breweries and fattening food) before starting the slow buildup of base miles for cross country season. Gibney is optimistic because (a) unlike previous years he enters the midsummer healthy and (b) he anticipates a strong Villanova cross country team for the fall. The addition of Ryan Sheridan (transfer from Iona) is mentioned explicitly, as well as his own chance -- being healthy in July for the first time since arriving at Villanova -- to get strong enough to make a real contribution to the cross country squad.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Gibney got heavy with about 300 meters to go and dropped a few spots when everyone struck for home. He recovered a bit over the final 100 meters and came 5th, four seconds slower than his race in Vancouver on Friday.

Nicole Schappert ran a 4:21 downhill mile in Manchester, New Hampshire, finishing third among the women. The men and women ran together, and the race had a massive 188 feet drop from start-to-finish. Nicole's official mile PR is 4:35. The men's race was won by Brian Gagnon in 3:44, while Julie Cully won the women's race in 4:14 -- both times are the fastest miles ever run on US soil, but rightfully are not considered records because of the nature of the downhill course. The official US national records for the mile are 3:46.91 (Allen Webb, 2007) and 4:16.71 (Mary Decker Slaney, 1986)

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Adrian Blincoe today finished third in the 3000 meters in the suburbs of Rouen, in northern France. His time of 7:51.64 was 2 seconds off the winner and about 5 seconds off his outdoor PR set last year in Rieti. Coupled with his 3:38.48 1500 meter race last week in Poland, Blincoe seems to be off to a solid start to his 2011 outdoor campaign.

Typical Gibney race, in a way. Staying close in 5th-6th throughout, then closing fast in the last 400 (about 55 seconds). He was perhaps 7th at the gun and finished third. Nice 2-second PR (see full results at the post below).

Canadian 1500 meter national champion (and former University of Michigan All-American) Nathan Brannen won the elite 1500 race at today's Harry Jerome International Track Classic in Vancouver. Villanova's Matt Gibney finished third in 3:38.34, setting a new 1500 PR by over 2 seconds (surpassing his old best of 3:40.58). Gibney ran 3:43.01 two weekends ago at the New Jersey International in Holmdel.